Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1955. július-december (4. évfolyam, 27-52. szám)
1955-12-22 / 51. szám
14 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZŐ___________________________________[December 22, 1955 Family Page CHRISTMAS DEDICATION By J. W. REED ;We found this lofty and yet eminently practica article in the latest issue of the “Churchman’ magazine so inspiring, that we decided to publish it, although we do not necessarily agree with everything the writer asserts. — Editor.) The actual date of Jesus’ birth is unknown. The day we use is an arbitrary date set by the Christians of the West sometime during the fourth century. This time of year was crowded with festivals of various sorts, all having as their inspiration the passing of the dark, wintry days and the ascendency of the sun. Christians preempted the 25th and it was intended to suggest the ascendency of Jesus in the lives of men. The ancient Britons had long observed the day but when Christianity was brought to them, they kept the day holy and rejoiced in the good news that a Savior had come. Abundant America has allowed material prosperity to smother the idea somewhat. Civilization today seems to be in more dire straits than ever were the ancients of Rome or northern Europe or early Britons. Christmas may have, if we will, a new and more vital meaning this year. I invite you to conside- with me some means to that end. 1 he thesis of this article is that progres: toward the kind of world all of us desire mus come about by, first, individuals who are willinj to shape and reshape their thoughts and action: to that end. Second, these steps bring abou progress in the community, state, nation and ou into the world. Third, Jesus gave the world th< most adequate and sufficient idea of what Got is like and of how God wants things done. Hu man beings have the all-important assignment ol transmuting his ideals into the warp and wool of our work-a-day lives. Let us see a little o! what this implies. The injurious germs in society must be eliminated before they grow stronger and do more damage. The healthful tendencies must be encouraged. Here are some specific cases that should have our serious concern and study: 1. With the opening of the new Congress in January there is sure to be very great pressure again to adopt universal military training in some form and very likely under a new name. This would be a serious blow to the growth of democracy in our country and anywhere in the world. Our youth would grow up as good goose- steppers, physically, mentally and spiritually It would be imitating the war-making nations of past European history. It would send a shiver throughout the rest of the world, announcing that the most powerful nation intends to deal with the world in terms of physical force instead ol by friendliness and negotiation. It would stop he present movement toward disarmament. Its endecies are all downward toward suspicion, tear, hatred, chaos, annihilation. o n The,f.act t.{lat.free citizens in a free land are mil meekly allowing their civil liberties to be .aken from them, needs immediate and drastic mention. Bold and arrogant men learned that ,fff0Can u "T*? u° notoriety and to places of iffluence by frightening- citizens. The remedy is ound not in more laws but in more courageous itizens. 1 he Constitution and especially the Bill '\ riffhts’ n®eds friends badly. Let us be careful ;hom we elect to make and enforce our laws, t all times let s take our courage in our hands ,nC P™.test the efforts of rascals to intimidate e pubhc in order that they may carrv out their lfish and evil designs, some of which have in- -matmnal repercussions. Refuse to be engulfed \«the hysteria which, like a heavy fog presses cm all s,mere is nothing to fear but fear pifnn.me its f“*ure there is a on and ft 0pP°«u,;'ti' »» help steer the „a- on and the world along the Christian path by rtOADirrONS AND WHAT DO YOU GET ?” tne composer-singer, was to compile a set oi coal miner songs; it had never been done before. “Since I was born in a coal mining town and knew about miners, I was at home in this element. There was one drawback. There just weren’t many folk songs about mining.” Travis’ solution was direct and simple. He sat down and wrote a helf-dozen songs that have since come to be accepted as authentic folklore. One of the songs in the album. “Dark as a Dungeon,” is included in a book by B. A. Botkin, folklorist for the Library of Congress, and Alan Lomax has listed, in his “Folk Song U.S.A.” as one of the best in the field. Presented with a five-string banjo when he was 5 years old, Travis received his first music instruction from his father. By the time he started ninth grade, school had lost its flacor for young Merle and he took off on a series of hobo trips through nearby counties. His professional career, however, began with a round of singing engagements at square dances, fish fries, chit- terling rags and other local social gatherings. As he moved about the Kentucky hills, our wandering minstrel absorbed the Negro and back- woods songs and stories that were to become the heart of his future creative productivity. BACKLOG OF EXPERIENCE In 1935, Travis began his climb into the “big time.” He joined the “Georgia Wildcats,” a popular hillbilv outfit and with that group worked on radio station WL1W in Cincinnati. Within a few years he was being featured as a “single” act on many network programs. Then came the war, a hitch in the Marine Corps and, upon his discharge, the call to California. In Hollywood, Travis quickly established himself as one of the leading performers and composers in the folk and western music fields. Travis, although he insists “Sixteen Tons” was written purely for professional reasons, has a colorful backlog of experience to support every line of the song. “It’s a well-known saying around the mines”, he explained, “that to be a good miner, you need two things—a strong back and a weak mind. And so “Some people say a man’s made out of mud, ‘But a poor man’s made out of muscle and blood. ‘Muscle and blood and skin and bones ‘With a mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong.” As for the chorus of the song, Travis remem- bred his mining town childhood and brought back the memory of his father, who like most miners of his day, was generally in debt to the company store, a mine company-owned general store. “When my dad would meet an old friend who would ask, “How you gettin’ along. Uncle Bob?” the answer would be: “Oh, pretty good, I íeckon. I can t afford to die. I owe my soul to the company store’.” H ith some of his characteristic modesty in. evidence, Travis disclaims major credit for the astonishing success of “Sixteen Tons.” “I don’t feel that I deserve any credit as merely a writer, he told us. “Anybody can write a song. But it takes a great artist like Tennessee Ernie to deliver to the people and make them love it. “Let’s say it this way ... we can all go out and buy peroxide, but there’s only one Marciin Monroe.” Menuhin to Play in Hungary Yehudi Menuhin, the violinist, is one of many distinguished foreign musicians to perform in Hungary next year, the director of the National Philharmonic Society, Mr. Jenő Havas announced. ’ Two Hungarians living abroad have also ec- septed invitations — Louis Kentner, pianist, of London, and André Gertler, violinist, now living in Belgium. Others include: Kyoko Tanak. Jana” nese pianist, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Ita- ntn conductor and Arthur Grumiaux, French violinist. The Society has planned about 2.000 performances for its 1956 program, including 83 orchestral concerts, 126 solo and chamber music reci- tals, 144 junior concerts and 19S “popular” con- irts in Budapest alone. Jr Tj* “■ *. nrn probfln»* of laborers and installment plan buying have long been with us. From time to time, though, we escape them by turning on the radio or juke box and hearing the latest popular song—a love song. Now with increased emphasis on union mergers and possible curbs on installment buying, even songs have come to reflect our worries. Today’s is numer one hit, “Sixteen Tons” by Merle Travis, r_ has some pretty pertinent things to say about i. both problems. y It’s a grim but compelling little saga about l, the olden days of coal mining. Recorded by d “Tenessee” Ernie Ford on Capitol Records, it has a already sold well over one million records. In the e unlikely event you haven’t heard it, it goes some- e thing like this: “Load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt___ St. Peter don’teha call me cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store.” s Many people could write about working in a t coal-mining town, but few could make it sound r as real as Merle Travis has done. We knew that 9 be was a popular “country and western” singer t as well as a prolific composer and academically t respected folklorist. 5 Yet, we felt that there must have been some l thing special in his bacground which enablec him to write with such obvious sincerity. f. tVe asked the tall, modest composer of surf . colorfully titled tunes as “Divorce Me C.O.D.,’ “I Like My Chicken Fr.vin’ Size,” “Too Muci Sugar for a Dime,” “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke,’ ■ and “No Vacancy,” to tell us something about - himself and his hit. We learned that Travis was born near Beech Creek. Ky., a coal-mining town. He never worked for the Beech Creek Coal Mining Co., but his father and brothers did. Though he left town shortly after entering high school and drifted into show business, he was familiar with the life of the coal miner. “Miners worked 10 hours a day, and then had no real salary.” Paid in metal tokens or ‘flickers,’ as they were called by the towns-people you could only spend them at the mining company’s store, where you could buy anything from clothes and groceries to household appliances. In this way, the miners were kept in eternal debt. In the song Travis says, he mined “Sixteen tons of number nine coal”. NUMBER NINER We asked him what No. 9 coal was and found that this isn’t a special grade of coal. “There were two coal mines in Beech Creek. One was called No. 5, the other No. 9. You were luckv if you worked in No. 5, because No. 9 had a low ceding and that made it harder to work in ” So in order to bring out the misfortune of his song- minei, he made him a number niner Travis says “Sixteen Tons” was written oriTÍ yTTf?,r ,f,record album called “Folk Songs of the Hills, back in 1947. “The idea,” explained entering the diplomatic service or finding a place in the Lnited Nations staff. Just now these are nfT\u01’ the most c°mfortable places to woik. Only the eager and brave should apply. bo, I wish a wonderful time for all this Christmas replete with gayety, good cheer and high dedication. B Ci
